Wolfenstein
by jcdenton2012
Summary: The long great descendent from one of mankinds greatest hero's finds himself repeating history for the Tau Empire.
1. A Sinking Feeling

The smell of oil lubricant and musty candle wax dominated the interior of the battle barges docking port as the rusty mechanical doors cycled open in a painful whine of motors and grinding gears. Two armsmen, dressed in grey oiler suits, saluted an ostentatiously well dressed middle aged man as he stepped forward from the confines of his small rusty red Aquilla Lander.

"Interrogator Fabian Wiles, you are expected on the bridge by the noble Inquisitor Valery de Julles," said one of the assembled armsmen as he held and then fumbled his brisk if not somewhat slightly nervous salute. The middle aged man smiled at the duo of Imperial servants while pushing back his salt and pepper graying hair, all the while ignoring the ornately engraved silver mask which covered the right side of his face.

Yes, the mask, supposedly it was some sort of implant meant to disguise a horrific facial wound earned during the course of Imperial Inquisition duty. Little did these armsmen know that the mask this Interrogator wore actually served a far more…devious purpose?

"Excellent gentlemen," said the Interrogator with a gracious bow, his crimson petty coat sagging around his waist due to his unbound black belts which typically held the heavy coat against the man's large burly frame, "Please do lead the way."

The two armsmen glared at their charge due to his odd accent, something was strange about it, but they couldn't quite exactly place a finger on what… Nevertheless they ushered him into the correct direction of a nearby mechanical lift whose fine metal scissor gate was aptly pulled aside for private usage.

"So, I hear that the Inquisitor is planning to purge the planet down below?" asked the Interrogator to the two armsmen as the lift lurched upward. Under normal circumstances the naval pions running the day to day operations of their respective battle barge wouldn't be given details regarding the Imperium of Man's military planning, but then again these weren't normal circumstances because of the extermintus which was about to be carried out and such actions tended to attract much gossip amongst the crewmen.

"Yes me lord," replied one of the armsmen with his words spoken flatly, "Lady de Julles is displeased with the military campaign being waged below. Given that we cannot best the Tau savages with our current guard compliment plans are now being made to simply eradicate the entire planetary population down below rather than cede this world to those filthy xenos."

"I see…" said Interrogator with a wolfish smile, "But the Tau tend to favor the unorthodox… like…" he stopped briefly while clasping his hands behind his back, pushing his crimson waist coat aside to grasp something in his trousers belt, "Infiltration."

The two armsmen turned towards him in synchronized motion as the shaggily faced man pulled two pulse pistols out from behind his back. Both naval men's eyes widened with surprise and fear as the Interrogator opened fire in the cramped confines of the mechanical lift, the energy projectiles of both hand weapons hitting their targets center mass. The two armsmen hit the sides of the lift with lifeless thuds as the Interrogator reconciled his pistols as the lift abruptly stopped several floors down from the command deck. He opened another ornate scissor gate and inspected the hallway just beyond the lift with keen interests.

The deep dark confines of the human warship went on for miles in a singular direction towards the bow, attaching to the numerous armories and gun compartments running parallel to one another at both port and starboard. The engine room was aft and below the command deck.

This much the pretender knew from a detailed study of the Imperial Strike Cruisers captured design documents. And, so it was that the man pretending to be Interrogator Fabian Wiles looked back, forlorn, at the two dead armsmen crumpled up upon the floor still dressed in their respective blood stained oiler suits.

Had they not intended to deliver him to the bridge, where he would have been found out as an imposter by Inquisitor de Julles, then he could not have needed to kill them. Indeed, their own duties, loyalties to their mandated orders, had forced his hand. This was regretful, but necessary, for the imposter had to discover the location of the cyclonic torpedoes about to used against the war torn world of Ignis Secondus down below.

Crimson waist coat blowing behind his body, the pretend Interrogator ran down the long corridor, inspecting numerical designations for the firing chambers as he jogged past the numerous gun batteries, looking for the main arms deck where the torpedoes would be prepped for firing. The search did not take long despite the excessive size of the human warship.

The main arms deck, M34-K98, was five hundred yards away. The pretender slowed his jog and crept into the service fire door which opened into the main battery deck. What he saw before him was a massive cavity within the Imperial Strike Cruisier filled with autoloaders and servators tending to two hundred artillery breaches. Chains hailing massive munitions rattled as gun crews and servators tended to their charges, loading, firing, and reloading massive artillery cannons.

The pretend Interrogator hid in the shadows as black grit and the scent of spent cordite filled the air, red robed tech priest with censer's, chanting, and walking the lengths of the decks as the gun crews fired their weapons, their small ornate bowls spewing scented mists as the rattling noise ushered forth death into the void outside the warship's hull.

It was now that the Imposture saw them, the cyclonic torpedoes being moved into another nearby compartment, carried by a group of servators, the ugly horrific cyborgs being preached to by a red robed priest speaking verbatim from a large leather bound book. "Be thine most cruel of circumstances, we dedicate the guns of this warship and these offerings of war unto the impure," he rambled, as the mechanical fire door sealed behind him down below

The man pretending to be Fabian Wiles now crept onto the overhead gunnery catwalks, and whilst still hidden by shadows, he followed the cyclonic torpedoes into another loading chamber. This time the tech priest and his entourage stopped before several large firing tubes. Incense filled the air as the tech priest drew the symbol of a cog upon each cyclonic torpedo with oil. The servators remained at attention as a dirge mantra continued to be sung by four additional red robbed priests leaving this firing chamber.

As the other priests left the room, the remaining cyborg human continued his mad ramblings, "And so the divine Emperor raises his fist in rage and fury towards the foul creatures down below and prepares to unleash his wraith upon the wicked which infest our glorious world. And with his blessing, the Omnissiah delivers upon those wretches most foul a judgement of fire and death…"

As the mechanically augmented monstrosity continued to preach his sermon, stopping briefly in pose, so too did the servators start to take one step at a time towards the firing tubes during each pause of his prayers, the cyclonic torpedoes being laid into their cradles like a corpses about to be delivered unto the void.

The fake Interrogator stood tall, drew one of his pistols, and took careful aim. "And it is unto the realm of death the Omnissiah sends thine most foul abominations, thine most foul traitors, and thine most foul xenos. With fire and flame… may the wraith of man be served… May…"

Before the tech priest could continue, the fake Fabian Wiles fired his weapon, blowing a giant hole through the red robed creatures head. The remains of the dead tech priest fell to the ground with a metallic thud while the servators stopped their march towards the firing tubes. With one shot, the man pretending to be Fabian Wiles had stalled the launch of the cyclonic torpedoes meant to exterminate all life on Ignis Secondus.

The same man now leapt over the catwalk, landing with a thump unto the rusty deck plates down below, where he marched over to the torpedoes still held in place by the servitor honor guard. He placed his hand upon one of the large bombs and attached a small explosive device to one of their ignition jets which would activate once the weapons exited past the ship's hull. Then he walked over to the tech priest, picked up the leather bound book, and finished the Imperial Sermon.

"May none judge our actions lacking in faith to the Omnissiah. May the Emperor light the way. May our enemies know us as the rightful bearers of faith, and unto them… judgment is now served."

The servators closed the cyclonic torpedoes into the firing tubes and stepped back, awaiting further orders, but no orders were to come as the imposter Fabian Wiles tossed away the leather bound book and trotted off to the gunnery deck. However, something was off… wrong… as he entered the vast cavity where such prior intense auto loading had been taking place.

There were no longer any chanting tech priests or gunnery serfs firing artillery cannons. Instead, up upon the catwalks stood several Guardsmen in grey trenchcoats and gas masks, 'Kriegmen,' as he had come to know them, each with lasrifles pointed at his body. These men remained at attention as a woman walked out from an above fire door. She was older, dressed in an ornate black bodyglove, with high heeled thigh boots, a red bodice which pushed up her rather impressive chest, and a white fur caped trench coat slacking off of her shoulders. She looked down at him with scorn; emotions chiseled unto a haggard and aged face made all the more eerie from two cold green eyes.

"You are not my Interrogator…" she said matter of factly. The man pretending to be Fabian Willes smiled, bobbed his head, and discarded the silver mask covering half of his face… thus revealing a red Tau firebrand below his right eye.

The Kriegmen mumbled amongst themselves in surprise as Inquisitor Lady de Julles laughed bitterly to herself, "A Tau Gue'vesa… A Foul Traitor…" she snarled mockingly, "And to late I see, now I want you to bear witness to the end of your wretched attempted invasion…" she said while using a hand vox to communicate with the Strike Cruisers bridge, "Captain… FIRE!"

The pretend Interrogator grinned as the cyclonic torpedoes launched in their tubes towards the exterior of the hull, and upon reaching the very edge of space their attached munitions exploded. A massive shutter rocked the Strike Cruiser triggering a hull quake which rippled along its broadside, buckling deck plating, sharding metal, and triggering a massive electrical cascade which crippled critical ships systems.

The Kriegmen up on the catwalk all fell down, some over the guardrails, slamming, dying upon the firing floor down below as red klaxons replaced the prior lighting. Secondary explosions from cooked off munitions now rattled the Strike Cruiser as the infiltrator ran towards the nearest closing fire door, las shots missing his body as he slid under the closing mechanical apparatus, separating him from the other compartment. Behind him, just before vanishing, he heard the Inquisitor yelling, and then he heard her upon the ships vox broadcasting to all personal, "This is Inquisitor de Julles, there is a spy aboard and he has just detonated the cyclonic torpedoes amid-ship. All personal intercept him! DO NOT LET HIM ESCAPE!"

Thunderous explosions started to tare the Imperial Strike Cruiser apart as the Imposter fled down numerous corridors. The shipboard gravity dispersers also started to malfunction as the human warship started to list horrifically to the left.

"This is the Captain!" yelled a voice over the vox, "All hands make ready to abandon ship! This is not a drill! The Tirpitz has suffered a critical shipboard failure and we our shipboard munitions are starting to cook off! All hands abandon…"

The captain was instantly cut-off by the Inquisitor, "Belay that order!" she yelled over the vox, "A spy has sabotaged this warship! Do not let him escape! Do not abandon your ship and this mission!"

The vox suddenly cut out as a massive explosion cut a tremor through the hull. More alert klaxons were set off throughout the human warship as additional secondary tremors quaked from munitions stockpiles in the below decks exploding.

"Fire alert!" yelled a voice over the vox, "We have a fire alert on deck 54! Main systems failure to all fire systems! Fire Doors not responding! The fire is spreading to the main munitions stockpile… ALL HANDS PULL OUT!"

The Imposter entered another mechanical lift and started to ascend to the prior docking deck, as he did so he felt another massive explosion cut through the Strike Cruiser. This time the ship started to list hard to starboard.

"All hands… the munitions stockpile on deck 54 has just detonated! The ship is listing! And, the fire is now spreading to deck 32… I repeat… the fire is spreading to deck 32…!"

The lift ground to a stop on the docking deck and the pretender leapt free from the cage just as the cables snapped and the feeble human made mechanical lift fell downward into flames and thick black smoke. He ran towards the docking bays, more explosions rattling the wounded Strike Cruiser.

And, as expected, he rounded the corner, found his Aquilla shuttle, and closed the docking hatch, "Get us out of here!" he yelled to the pilot in the cockpit. She looked at him with alien blue skin and dark eyes, her blue bodyglove against her small body, and instinctively pulled away from the shuttle docking port. Thus it was that the Imposter departed the human warships hull, and with the aid of a Tau pilot quickly pulled away from the wounded warship.

Before him, the Imposter saw the damage he had caused. The warship was listing hard to starboard, bleeding oxygen into space with a magnificent yellow fireball along its hull. Massive chunks of armor plating had been blow away revealing the ships bent and battered internal frame. As the Aquila shuttle pulled away from the wreck, a massive explosion suddenly sundered the hulk splitting it in half.

The Imposter had little time to marvel at the sight as a shockwave suddenly hammered the shuttle, blowing him off his feet and unconscious against the bulkhead. When he awoke, the Aquilla was adrift and the Tau female pilot wearing her blue bodyglove was leaning over with a look of concern upon that odd alien oval face of hers.

"Well done Agent Blazkowicz," she said while helping him up. The imposter smiled fondly as the shuttle suddenly pitched, rolling the Tau female into his chest. She looked up at his dark eyes and haggard face with a blue tinted blush upon her cheeks.

"You know," he said while taking her oval face by the chin, his other hand wrapped around her body, gripping her firm buttocks which further served to surprise and shame the alien pilot, "Human males have a reputation for virility."

"Is that so?" she asked while a faint smile. The Imposter looked at the burning Imperial Strike Cruiser listing before the shuttles view port before leaning into the pilot's smaller body and kissing her upon the lips.

What occurred next was… very… heretical.


	2. Debriefing

Glowing white lights adorned the curved metal hallways aboard the Or'es El'leath class battleship Infero, as a lone gue'vesa fire warrior dressed in bulky yellow and red armor passed through a shipboard intersection filled with blue skinned technicians of the Earth Caste. These xenos murmured amongst themselves, oblivious to the human warrior, as they read a series of holographic data slates regarding a malfunction to a power transfer node on the current deck.

After having been aboard a native Terran warship, the human fire caste warrior had to admit that the lack of ornamented skulls certainly made the ships interior feel less drab. Indeed, the interior to the Tau warship seemed much more new and sterile in comparison to the human strike cruisers musty and rusty rubbish. Perhaps, this was because the Tau had less history, less… mythological baggage, to bring to their ships designs than say the native Imperial shipwrights.

Given that the gue'vese, Hadrian James (H.J.) Blazkowicz had been born and raised in Tau space, and had never seen nor experienced Imperial culture until he was assigned as an infiltrator to the Tau Kauyon Lissera, Hunter Team, or perhaps better known as the Tau Stealth Infiltration Corp, then maybe his cultural leanings were certainly less learned and valued towards the native Terran deco.

However, the gue'vese's thoughts phased into the background of his primary concerns as he passed the Earth Caste engineers while they continued their duties, the human fire warrior, with his salt and pepper hair, red face scouter, and haggard face, marching past them towards a large oval door guarded by two fellow fire warriors in crimson battlesuits. Both warriors crossed their arms over their chests in salute to the human warrior of the same caste, yet higher rank, as the large oval door cycled open.

Yet another strange facsimile, the Tau doors didn't grind or moan like the native Imperial constructs. Instead, the operated smoothly with a fine 'whoosh' of sliding oiled steel against sliding oiled steel. The gue'vese grinned as he noticed the difference while entering his superiors command chambers.

Before the human, sitting at a large metal table with slightly dimmed lights and a viewing port showcasing the recently captured Imperial world of Ignis Secondus, was the Ethereal Caste representative Aun'O Savon Mont'au, and his chief assistant Fio'El Nars. Nars was standing by Savon, handing him a series of data slates showcasing the recently captured resources of Ignis Secondus and the wreckage of what was once an Imperial Strike Cruisier as it burned up upon reentry into the planet's atmosphere.

"Welcome back H.J." said Nars with a smile as he stepped back from the side of his superior, Ethereal Savon, hitting a holoswitch in the process to darken the room with a slightly more shadowy shade so that a blue holo-image broadcasting static could be seen upon the metal tables center, "Your mission to sabotage the Tirpitz was a success, she's burning up upon reentry within Ignis Secondus as we speak, and as for the planet, it is well within Tau hands. What remains of the Imperial Fleet has already disengaged leaving their Guard Regiments to fend for themselves, wasteful, but not unexpected."

"Thank you Fio'O," replied the human gue'vese with a hint of both pride and concern, "But I don't think we've heard the last of the Imperium. They knew I was coming… and had Kriegmen ready to stop me."

"We know," said Savon with a nervous wave of his hands, "There was an Intel leak somewhere within our ranks, but… that isn't our main concern at the moment, or why we have so quickly summoned you."

The human fire caste warrior shifted his footing nervously as Savon stalled briefly and resumed, "Do you recognize this man?" he asked, as a blue holographic image of an old Imperial male, bald, with numerous facial scars and what appeared to be a mechanically augmented manacle in his right eye, appeared on top of the metal table.

"No, who is he?" asked H.J. as he leaned in to inspect the image, further noticing this humans eerie twisted smile, almost warped into an eternal demented laugh from his facial scars.

"His name is Inquisitor Wilhelm Strasse, and… we have recent intelligence which heavily implies that he is overseeing the development of a new weapon for the Imperium of Man, a weapon meant to be used against the Tau Empire."

"What sort of weapon?" asked the gue'vese as both Tau commanders gestured elegantly with their yellow robed arms.

"Some sort of bio-weapon," said Nars, with Savon finishing the sentence, "Being developed in a region of space the Imperium calls the Segmentum Solar. Apparently, the research and development of this new weapon is occurring on a world under the authority of the human warrior group, 'The Space Wolves.'"

"What do we know of these 'Space Wolves?'" asked the Tau Fire Caste human.

Nars blinked with a wicked smile and replied, "They are Shas'shi, bio-engineered human warriors… the Imperium refers to such creatures as 'Space Marines.'"

"So, what do we know about this project, and this world?" asked the gue'vese. Savon nodded politely, clasped his hands on the metal table, and gave his reply, "Very little, but enough for us to move forward. The project itself is being undertaken on a world called Isenstadt. We were able to send in a small infiltration force of additional gue'vese, which were then able to report back with some very… interesting information…"

Nars now had the holographic image flicker to show yet another human. This time it was a kriegman dressed in a fine wool coat with a purple sash and an ornate gold engraved gas mask, "This is General Victor Zetta and we have confirmed that in the past few weeks he has been deployed with a very large contingent of troops to Isenstadt, but why… remains unknown."

"So you think they are there, on this planet, to help the Inquisition finalize their research, maybe to get this weapon ready for deployment against the Tau Empire?" asked the human warrior.

Savon pointed his blue anatomically different hand at H.J. and wolfishly said, "That's what we need you to find out Agent Blazkowicz. Your orders are to travel to this world through an intermediary free trader vessel and contact the gue'vese infiltrators already on the planet. Then you are then to assess the situation and report back on your findings."

Nars instantly tried to console the human warrior, "Sorry to send you back into the field so soon H.J., but the amount of gifted human infiltrators is rather limited, and you've dealt with the Inquisition before. You are the only man for this sort of mission to whom we have at our immediate disposal."

"Not a problem," he eyed them both menacingly, "So, when do I get started?"

"Immediately," said Savon, leaning in with teepeed hands before his face, "Travel arrangements have already been made. I wish you luck on this assignment Agent Blazkowicz."

The gue'vese crossed his arms over his chest and bowed his head in salute, "Thank you sir, I will make sure not to disappoint," he then pivoted on his heel and walked towards the oval doorway. Behind him both Savon and Nars started to resume other inspection of operations details for other infiltrators as the human fire warrior left their chambers.

The door closed behind him, and with it the last images of the captured human world of Ignis Secondus.


	3. Spaceport Part I

The Arvus Lighter buckled and groaned slightly as its metallic bulk nestled down upon the primary transport spaceport for Hive World Isenstadt while engine fumes swept the naked landing tarmac. H.J, snapped awake during the jittering landing, his eyes hallowed from yet another long nightmare of murdering Kriegmen.

The Gue'vesa agents face and hair were caked in humid sweet after his long trip through the Segmentum Solar, and it was now that he took a brief glimpse through of the large cargo haulers viewing port where he had been lucky enough to be smuggled through numerous star systems without being noticed by the Imperial authorities.

Outside the shuttle was a vast landing pad made of rockcrete and asfalt where small brown dying weeds were stuck growing through the Hive Worlds toxic top soil. Off to the sides, running the length of the spaceport, were a series of towering steel scaffolds supporting a massive arched atrium and broken glass ceiling. Additional Arvus Lighter's and mammoth cargo crates lined the landing tarmac in sporadic groups with the latter being lifted and reorganized by a series of rusted yellow cranes. Black flags, each emblazoned with a double headed golden eagle, lined the scaffolding and blew in the tell tale harsh arctic winds despite the brown toxic sky overhead.

It was now, as Agent Blazkowicz inspected his surroundings, that the shuttle powered down its engines and came fully to rest with a loud clank of poorly crafted steel pushing down upon poorly crafted hydraulic pistons. Someone, a stranger, was outside the cargo hulk as the rear doors parted into the brisk wind.

"Agent Blazkowicz?" addressed the human, as the Tau Gue'vesa descended the shuttles disembarkation ramp, his green wool sweater proving little comfort against the planets crisp cold weather. However, this man, dressed in a white wool sweater and grey pants was already continuing his speech before the infiltrator could respond, "I'm with the Kauyon Lissera. Come with me. Your cover is already blown."

H.J. gritted his teeth. His cover had already blown; did that mean the human infiltrator had just spent the past few months passing through Imperial space only to abort his mission? How, how could this happen?

As these thoughts passed through the Fire Warriors mind, numerous vox ponders scattered across the space ports landing field suddenly blared into activation with an obnoxious squawk of noise, "Alert," spoke a definitive authoritative Kriegman voice, "All resistance fighters are to be shot on sight!"

Resistance fighters, what had these idiots been doing since they last reported in to Aun'O Savon Mont'au? Their orders were to NOT engage the Imperial military and simply gain Intel, but based upon H.J.'s brief listen to the spaceports vox broadcast, it seemed as though the Gue'vesa agents had gone either rouge or been discovered by the Inquisition. Frankly, the Fire Warrior didn't know which was worse given the situation.

Nevertheless, H.J. followed the other human infiltrator across the tarmac and past a giant stack of cargo crates lined with a black inked skull stamp. The pair quickly entered a small rockcrete shed where a drainage aqueduct lay open. Unfortunately, as they closed the door to the shed, a pair of Kriegman started to run across the tarmac, their weapons raised, their black trench coats blowing against their bodies as ice sickles formed on their gas masks breathing apparatus, "YOU!" they yelled while jogging towards the shed, "Stay where you are!"

"Quickly, down here," pointed the other human, "We have more Gue'vesa agents waiting for you on the other side."

H.J. jumped down into the drainage slough, and looked up expecting the other human to follow him. Instead, he saw the above hatch close and heard something large and wooden scrape over the small door. Then, seconds later, the passage into the above shed was breached, boot steps, and a kriegman yelling through his gas mask, "On your knees!"

"Where is he?" asked the other kriegman menacingly, "Where is that traitor!"

"I don't know what you are talking about. I'm just a worker on my shift," replied the other human with his hands risen in faked confusion. One of the Kriegmen strolled towards the above Tau agent and struck him with his rifle butt. The human Gue'vesa fell to the ground in a tumble as the second Kriegman kicked him harshly in the ribs.

"Tell us where he is?" yelled the other.

"I swear, I don't know what you are talking about!" yelled the other man. One of the Kriegmen now drew the human up by his coat and pushed him towards the door. H.J. watched the Kriegman and Gue'vesa agent forcefully exit the room up above while one of the Imperial soldiers said harshly, "We'll just see about that."

Given his lack of options, H.J. decided to follow the drainage slough, his feet and ankles mucking through thick grey sludge and foul smelling water as he moved down a cramped darkened rockcrete tunnel with sporadic metal meshing at random junctions. Up above, he could hear several random conversations from dock workers and Krieg soldiers.

"Have we found that traitor trash yet?" asked one Kriegman, "No, we have to find this agent or General Zetta will be outraged," replied another.

"We can't find him," said another Kriegman as H.J. rounded a corner down in the slough, passing through a thin veil of drizzling water, "Spread out," said another, "And search the entire spaceport. He could be anywhere."

It was now that the Gue'vesa agent came to a small service ladder leading up into another rockcrete building. This building, it was warm, and H.J. could feel his skin and bones ease with comfort as he slowly ascended the ladder, stopping briefly before the top as another man, this time dressed in a black wool vest, white shirt, and black trousers, offered him a helping hand.

The Tau Agent looked at this fellow, and noticed a small bandage just below his right eye, a poor attempt to cover his fire brand no doubt. Not wishing to be rude, Blazkowicz took the strangers hand and crawled out of the sewers, upon his hands and knees, the grey sludge making one final attempt to drag him back down into the gutter as he did so.

"Agent Blazkowicz," said the new man with a hint of both desperation and humor, "I'm Erik Engle, and I'm an agent of the Kauyon Lissera. Listen, a lot has happened since our last report, but… we don't have time for that right now. The Kriegmen, General Zetta's men, are spreading throughout the spaceport. We don't know how, but… they must have found out about you."

"Found out?" he asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, but it wasn't a leak. If it was a leak, we would have found it by now," said Erik in an assertive way which left no room for doubt, "But, that needs to wait. We can't leave yet. Something… unexpected has arisen, an opportunity if you will. There is a shuttle on the tarmac, an Inquisition shuttle to be specific, and its heading for one of Wilhelm Strausse's primary research stations on this planet. The shuttle is sitting on platform one. Listen, we may never get another chance like this again… and also…" he stalled briefly while delivering a whimsical shrug, "We could also use this as a diversion to get away."

H.J. nodded approvingly as Erik tossed him a lasrifle, "My apologies on the lack of proper pulse weaponry, but here, take this, far away from the Tau Empire we unfortunately must use these primitive arms. That having been said, there are places in the Hive where certain… unscrupulous traders may be willing to sell something with slightly more stopping power. Until then… just use this lasrifle."

Agent Blazkowicz checked the clunky Imperial weapon briefly, namely he checked the power cell and its current calibration. The design was awkward, backwards, and massively inefficient, and all of these things were represented in H.J.s sneer as he put the weapon reluctantly against his shoulder.

Satisfied by the new Gue'vesa agents professionalism, Erik motioned towards the door, "Good comrade, now let us hurry… that shuttle won't wait for long."

H.J. followed Erik into a small shelter off to the side of the tarmac. Here, four other human Gue'vesa agents knelt behind bar tables with lasrifles at the ready. Outside the windows, with their wool coats blowing in the wind, patrolled a group of Kriegman across a raised passenger platform.

"Has that building been secured?" asked one of the Imperial soldiers while pointing towards the rockcrete structure that the Kauyon Lissera agents were hiding within.

"I don't know, can't be sure?" replied another human soldier, "Then be sure," replied his superior threateningly. Two of the Kriegman now broke off from the group and started towards the Tau agent's shelter. Agent Blazkowicz motioned towards Erik for him to take the windows. Meanwhile, the salt and peppered hair Tau Fire Warrior knelt before the shelter door, waiting for the Kriegman to open it, his lasrifle aimed for what would soon be a man's midsection.

The Kriegman walked to the building, looked through the musky windows, and approached the door for a proper inspection due to their prior poor visibility of the interior. H.J. watched the door pull aside revealing a very surprised Krieg soldier who after a brief repose, went for his weapon, but the Tau infiltrator was faster and hit the Imperial soldier dead center with a las blast.

The Kriegman fell over in a heap, alerting his comrades, as the other Gue'vesa stood up from their hiding spots, firing through the glass, killing several of the Imperial Krieg soldiers in a hail of las shots. However, many more were making it to proper cover, and one man even managed to raise the spaceports alarm.

"Well done," said Erik as he ran past the door to take cover behind a wooden cargo crate labeled with an inked skull insignia, "What are you waiting for H.J., move up!" he waved at the salt and pepper haired infiltrator. The Tau Fire Warrior smiled and ran for cover.

More Kriegman were running across the spaceports tarmac as he did so, las blasts missing the infiltrator by inches as he slid down behind a rockcrete barricade. The other Gue'vesa were already opening fire while in a mad sprint for cover, cherry picking the Kriegmen at a respectable distance.

It was now that another shuttle roared overhead and landed further down the tarmac giving visage to yet more Krieg soldiers approaching from a not so distance landing pad, "Erik!" pointed H.J.. The Gue'vesa comrade did a double take, and pointed, directing several of his men to cover the enemy approach.

Two Fire Warrior infiltrators suppressed the Kriegmen moving up from the landing pad as H.J. stood up and opened fire on a group of Krieg soldiers bolting between cover. He killed three men, blowing their meat and blood across the rockcrete flooring and skull emblem ordained crates with ease. For now, the path was clear to a nearby stack of large cargo containers which were all covered in just as much ice as rust.

H.J. took point, leading Erik and his men across the tarmac, "This way," said Erik as the group rounded a large container stack just to hunker down behind cover as a group of Kriegmen fired down upon them from an elevated catwalk. Black flags emblazoned with the double headed golden Imperial eagle blew in the bitter harsh wind as the infiltrator motioned towards a nearby series of buildings.

"Cover me," said H.J. With two Gue'vesa agents suppressing the Kriegmen coming in from the landing pad behind them, and another two human guerillas unleashing suppressive fire unto the catwalk, H.J. ran across the tarmac, las blasts nipping at his heels, until he hurled through a glass window and into another large rockcrete room.

Four Kriegman ran down a nearby set of stairs, weapons raised. The Fire Warrior was ready for them and killed each man with a las blast before they could get a bead upon him. H.J. rounded the corner and jogged up the stairs, his feet clumping awkwardly on the metal steps with each lung until at last he found himself on the second floor with an exact line of sight upon the Krieg soldiers using the catwalk as an adept firing position.

While taking cover behind a rockcrete wall, the Tau Fire Warrior opened up with his human made las weapon, each beam dropping one of the Kriegmen, until at last they sighted him and made a fleeing retreat across the catwalk.

It was now that Erik and the other Gue'vesa agents came away from their cover and made their way up the rockcrete building through which H.J. had just passed. Together the group took cover behind a series of rockcrete masonry walls as the Kriegmen regrouped across the way in another building.

"That's it," pointed Erik towards a not so distant shuttle getting ready for liftoff, "That's the one we need to destroy."

H.J. peeked out from behind his cover in order to get a better grasp of the situation. In order to reach the Inquisition shuttle the Gue'vesa raiders would first need to finish off the Kriegmen in the adjacent building. He motioned towards Erik, "Cover me," he said before ducking out of his position and running the length of the above head catwalk.

The Kriegmen tried to repel his one man assault, but the Tau Gue'vesa commandos all came out of their cover at once and used a massed volley of las fire to suppress the Imperial soldiers across the way. While hunched over, H.J. ran across the catwalk, las blasts nicking his chest and legs but not causing any serious injuries. Then he combat rolled into the Kriegmen's position and took cover behind a nearby metal desk.

Bolts of las fire glassed his position as the Tau Fire Warrior took pot shots at the Imperial soldier's just meters away in their exposed positions. The enemy would have retreated to fight yet another stalemated battle, except now the Krieg soldiers had run out of places to fall back towards and their efforts to reorganize fell short as H.J. proved enough of a distraction thus allowing the other Gue'vesa agents to run across the catwalk. Together, the group of infiltrating humans at last overpowered the Kriegmen who in a brutal last stand fought to the last man where they were then cut down by massed las fire.

"This way, H.J., we don't have much time," said Erik as he then lead the group down another set of stairs and once more out onto the spaceports landing tarmac. The Gue'vesa spread out around the Inquisitorial shuttle, painted black with an eerie golden skull decoration upon its side.

"H.J.," pointed Erik towards a nearby tripod mounted autocannon placed next to an elaborate sandbag bunker. Evidently, surmised the salt and pepper haired warrior, the Kriegmen were incapable of elevating the weapon high enough to repeal the Tau Warriors as they crossed the above catwalks… lucky… they had gotten very lucky, "Get on that M34 and cover us!"

The Fire Warrior did as ordered while one of the other Gue'vesa infiltrators started to rig an explosive charge onto the shuttles left side. A fine white mist descended from the vehicle as its engines idled in the brisk cold. Meanwhile, a loud alert siren blared through the spaceport, "All troops move to Platform One, this is not a drill!" said a voice through the facilities vox relay.

H.J. took hold of the turret and started to gun down Kriegmen moving across the vast rockcrete tarmac. These brave yet somewhat dimwitted soldiers were running out into the open in hopes of simply overwhelming the Tau position with raw numbers, but… their efforts were largely wasted. Agent Blazkowicz fired in short bursts of self detonating shells, goring many of the Imperial soldiers.

After a few brief seconds he noticed several of them starting to take shelter behind cargo crates, unleashing peeping sporadic fire, until at last Erik yelled from behind, "That's it… the bomb is set… everyone fall back!"

H.J. abandoned the machine gun nest and fled with the rest of the Tau Infiltrators. Sensing victory, the Kriegmen pursued doggedly… and then the shuttle exploded into a hellish inferno of twisting steel and red flames, sending a kinetic concussive ripple across the tarmac.

Blazkowicz, like all the others, was blown off his feet, landing face first into the rockcrete tarmac. Behind him… something strange happened. The shuttle collapsed inward unto itself, into a swirling black vortex of thundering energy. Ominous green lightening filled the spaceport, and then… from the vortex stepped a horrible horrible creature.

This thing, it stood upon reverse jointed legs and was solid red with two burning horns upon its ragged scalp. It looked at the charging Kriegmen and began to laugh. The Tau Fire Warrior watched the Imperial soldiers stop… and then slowly start to back pedal… all the while uttering in fear a single world… _"demon."_


End file.
